


Right Honourable

by PlaidAdder



Series: Missing Pages [4]
Category: Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms, Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
Genre: M/M, Mycroft IS the British Government, Mycroft-centric, One Shot, POV Mycroft Holmes, Period-Typical Homophobia, Story: The Adventure of the Empty House
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-09
Updated: 2018-04-09
Packaged: 2019-04-20 18:04:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14266608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PlaidAdder/pseuds/PlaidAdder
Summary: June 21, 1891. 3:00pm, Committee Room D.Minutes of the In Camera Committee for the Preservation of Information Security, Lord Bellinger presiding.Present: Lord Holdhurst, the Right Honourable Trelawney Hope, Sir James Walter,  Mr. Mycroft Holmes ex officio.All members being present and all necessary security measures being taken, Mr. Holmes was per usual nominated to take the minutes. Per usual, M. Holmes was charged with circulating a paper copy through secure channels to committee members for corrections and redactions, after which M. Holmes is to commit the final version to memory and then destroy the original. M. Holmes acquiesced and begged all present to note that the file number for these minutes will be MM351, and reminded all present that when calling upon to consult committee minutes it is extremely helpful to mention the file number assigned to the meeting rather than mumble vaguely about half-remembered dates, times, and topics. [N.B. to M. H.: strike final sentence as it is irrelevant and slightly unkind. --Bellinger.]****Mycroft's draft minutes of the secret committee meeting at which the ultimate fate of the Honourable Ronald Adair was determined.





	Right Honourable

June 21, 1891. 3:00pm, Committee Room D.

Minutes of the In Camera Committee for the Preservation of Information Security, Lord Bellinger presiding.

Present: Lord Holdhurst, the Right Honourable Trelawney Hope, Sir James Walter,  Mr. Mycroft Holmes _ex officio_. 

All members being present and all necessary security measures being taken, Mr. Holmes was per usual nominated to take the minutes. Per usual, M. Holmes was charged with circulating a paper copy through secure channels to committee members for corrections and redactions, after which M. Holmes is to commit the final version to memory and then destroy the original. M. Holmes acquiesced and begged all present to note that the file number for these minutes will be MM351, and reminded all present that when calling upon him to consult committee minutes it is extremely helpful to mention the file number assigned to the meeting rather than mumble vaguely about half-remembered dates, times, and topics. **[N.B. to M. H.: strike final sentence as it is irrelevant and slightly unkind. --Bellinger.]**

Lord Bellinger began by noting that thefts of sensitive Cabinet documents had been increasing steadily since mid-May and that the problem would soon reach crisis levels. Something must be done to avert catastrophe. The difficulty of the situation was increased by the absolute impossibility of requesting help from the official police, who could not be trusted with highly sensitive information, or indeed the most commonplace of ordinary murders. **[N.B. to M.H.: I have cautioned you before about editorializing. Strike everything in preceding sentence after 'information.' --Bellinger]** The death of the much-lamented Mr. Sherlock Holmes in early May had deprived the Foreign Office of its most effective and trustworthy private agent, and no doubt emboldened the network of spies already residing in London. Two questions therefore presented themselves: 1) in the short term, how to stem the current tide of embarrassing and potentially catastrophic losses and 2) in the long term, how to address the problem in the absence of the irreplaceable Mr. Holmes.

Lord Holdhurst reported, in view of addressing the first of Lord Bellinger's questions, that his office had strong reasons to believe that most of the documents in question were passing to these foreign governments via Colonel Sebastian Moran, who was already well-known to the committee. It was much to be regretted that Colonel Moran had not been apprehended in the sweep-up of Moriarty's gang, which had been most shamefully bungled by the official agents, though it must be admitted that Lestrade had previously requested additional resources which were denied to him by a penny-pinching Foreign Office. **[N. B. to M. H.: You really are incorrigible. Strike everything in preceding sentence after 'gang.'--Holdhurst]** Moran had been reported in Switzerland, Germany, and France during the latter weeks of May, and had now returned to London and resumed his usual habits. The Foreign Office had determined that Moran had begun as an agent negotiating the sales of such documents to foreign embassies, but had now risen in up the supply chain and was purloining, purchasing, or extorting the documents himself through his contacts at his clubs. Exposing and incarcerating Moran would undoubtedly disrupt the chain in the short term, though some more permanent solution must be devised in the long term.

The Right Honourable Trelawney Hope suggested that the easiest means of trapping Moran would be for an agent, claiming to be a clerk in the Foreign Office, to infiltrate one of Moran's clubs. The agent, having established friendly relations with Moran, would then confide in him that he was embarrassed by enormous economic difficulties. Moran would then naturally suggest to the agent that he might clear himself of all these difficulties by selling a valuable document for a considerable sum. The agent would pretend to go through the sale, documenting every stage, and Moran would be arrested a moment after the transfer of the 'document' had taken place. It was only a matter of finding the right agent.

Sir Walter observed that infiltrating one of Moran's clubs was easier said than done. He himself had been denied membership at the Baldwin, the Cavendish was not currently accepting new members, and as for the Bagatelle, it was notable that at the age of fifty Colonel Moran was its oldest member, the Bagatelle having demonstrated a strong preference for young, titled men with idle hands and deep pockets. Indeed, the only London club queerer or more selective than the Bagatelle was the Diogenes Club.

Here, a general and futile attempt was made to persuade M. Holmes to accept new duties which are entirely ill-suited to his temperament and abilities. M. Holmes reminded all present, not for the first time, that he had condescended to take part in the breaking-up of the late Professor Moriarty's organization purely out of filial duty to his younger brother, and that no power on earth could induce him to take up the detective business, with which he now has the most painful associations. [ **N. B. to M. H.: Strike entire paragraph. --Hope.** ]

Lord Bellinger suggested that perhaps a young man who was already a member of the Bagatelle might be prevailed upon to enter temporarily into the service of his Queen. Sir Walter here made an insinuating remark including some obscure reference to queens which provoked general laughter. M. Holmes having begged him to state his meaning more directly, Sir Walter demurred and requested that M. Holmes might recite the list of current Bagatelle members. This M. Holmes would have been pleased to do, had Sir Walter given him the correct file number. During the ensuing exchange between M. Holmes and Sir Walter, the Right Honourable Trelawney Hope produced a written copy of the Bagatelle's membership list from his dispatch-box, thus revealing that this apparently spontaneous idea of Sir Walter's had in fact arisen from an informal consultation prior to the meeting, of which M. Holmes had no prior knowledge. [ **N. B. to M. H.: It was a chance meeting in a hallway, not a preconcerted conspiracy. Strike everything in this paragraph after "queen." --Walter** ]

After perusing the membership list, Lord Holdhurst begged all present to dismiss from consideration Mr. Percy Phelps, who had recently married and was still somewhat unwell. This agreed, Hope suggested the Honourable Ronald Adair. He and Moran were known to have played cards together in recent weeks. Lord Holdhurst expressed some reservations as to the quality of Adair's intelligence. Hope replied that the planned operation was a simple one and well within his capabilities. M. Holmes objected, and suggested the committee might continue their search. Various alternatives were debated, all rejected as unsatisfying in one way or another. The conversation returned to Adair. The following exchange is worth rendering verbatim:

 

Bellinger: But supposing he refuses?

Hope: He won't, my lord.

Bellinger: You've asked him?

Hope: No, my lord.

Bellinger: Then how can you be certain?

Hope: We have his diary, my lord.

Bellinger: Do you indeed.

Hope: Yes, my lord.

Walter: By Jove. Entertaining reading, what? 

Hope: Moderately entertaining, Sir Walter.

Walter: Thought he was engaged to the Woodley girl.

Hope: He is, Sir Walter. Miss Edith Woodley, however, has _not_ read this diary.

(General laughter.)

M. Holmes at this moment intervened and suggested that Queen and country might be better served by a more mature agent who could be recruited from the membership of the Baldwin or the Cavendish. The Right Honourable Trelawney Hope replied that a bird in the hand was worth two in the bush. M. Holmes answered that sending the Right Honourable Ronald Adair up against Colonel Sebastian Moran, and sending a lamb to the slaughter, were one and the same. Lord Holdhurst requested that M. Holmes moderate his tone. Sir Walter made a noise evidently intended to simulate the sound of a lamb bleating. Lord Bellinger called for order. Lord Bellinger remonstrated with Sir Walter, who offered an apology for his levity. Lord Bellinger accepted it and noted that Adair was the safest choice for this mission, given his abilities, limitations, and vulnerability to exposure, which might be exploited if at any point he objected to his assignment. 

M. Holmes indicated to Lord Bellinger that if Adair were selected for this mission on the basis of the reasons given, he (M. Holmes) would tender his resignation immediately.

Lord Bellinger reminded M. Holmes that the unique post he occupied came with certain restrictions, and one of them was that it could _not_ be resigned, except by death.

M. Holmes begged in that case to be excused from the remainder of the meeting.

Lord Bollinger declined, stating that the decision had been taken and the meeting was now adjourned.

The meeting adjourned at 3:45pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Mr. Mycroft Holmes.

[ **To Committee: This document no longer exists. There will be no official minutes of this meeting. --Bellinger** ]

****

Post script:

My dear Mycroft, I know how deeply the loss of your younger brother has affected you, and I am sorry. But I beg of you to show more restraint in the future. People will not make allowances for you forever, and we cannot have another meeting like this one. The circulation of these minutes has compounded the problem. Your brother's memory is still green, and we would all like to keep it stainless. I beg, therefore, that you will exercise more care and discretion in the carrying out of your duties from this day forward. One never knows what Holdhurst has on one. Destroy this, and never create another copy.

Warmly,

Bellinger

**Author's Note:**

> I've always felt really bad for the poor Right Honourable Ronald Adair. He's the only murder victim in the canon whose death is so unimportant to both Holmes and Watson that we never get a real explanation for it. Posthumously making him a government agent gives the poor man a little dignity, though he still gets a very raw deal.
> 
> Mycroft doesn't appear in any of the Sacrilege! stories, so I never had to write ACD canon Mycroft before. Evidently he shares the family snark gene.


End file.
